


Aces Landing

by ShadeOps21



Category: Ace Combat
Genre: Ace Combat 5, Ace Combat 6, Ace Combat 7, F/M, Fluff, day in the life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:42:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26522353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadeOps21/pseuds/ShadeOps21
Summary: A collection of unrelated one-shots and such bouncing between the different games, following different characters.Chapters will be tagged with the game(s) they relate to in the title.
Kudos: 7





	1. [AC6] Relearning to Dance

Prior to now, if anyone asked Marcus Lampert what his top three ‘toughest but most rewarding experiences’ of his life had been, he would have answered that they would’ve been passing SERE school with the Air Force, proposing to Monica, and watching his daughter’s difficult birth, in that order.

“You’re almost there Marcus, just another two meters to go.”

Being able to finally walk after months of confinement to a wheelchair was just about to beat out the SERE school, though.

“Don’t over-exert yourself, sir.”

“Doctor, do you want me to get the chair ready?”

“Go Shamrock! You can do this!”

Marcus pushed out the chatter from the medical staff and focused on the cheering from his own personal cheer squad, stealing a glance at the young Matilda as she sat beside her mother. The pair had joined him today, serving as both his transport from his apartment to the National Defense Hospital that was a short drive away from Gracemeria Base and as his moral support for his rehabilitation therapy session today.

When he’d ejected from his crippled F-15E Strike Eagle, both Marcus and his WSO had suffered a fair amount of injuries. Unfortunately for him, he’d ended up the worse of the pair: a snapped left femur and dislocated left knee, fractured right and left ankles, cracked sternum, and a partially slipped disk in his lower spine, alongside the typical cuts and bruises one sustained after they ejected violently from a damaged aircraft. His WSO, Andrew ‘Sparky’ Kirby, had gotten out comparatively lighter with only a fractured wrist, dislocated right shoulder, and sprained ankles from a rough landing on the ice.

A series of surgeries and a long amount of time in both a bed and wheelchair, today would be the day to show that he could graduate to crutches. He was lucky to be alive, all things considered. Marcus knew that he’d never fly again; even if he passed medical assessments from the REAF, he’d been warned that the titanium pins in his left leg, while durable, would cause him considerable pain and discomfort under repetitive g-loads.

“Good work! Nurse, if you wouldn’t mind?” Marcus snapped himself out of his head and saw that he’d made it to the end of the fifteen meter long track, each side fitted with a raised bar for him to support himself with. Looking over to where Melissa and Matilda were, he saw that the young girl was on her feet and clapping, while Melissa simply wore a smile herself.

“I’m good Doc, I don’t need a chair.” Marcus said, lifting a hand off one of the bars to wave away the nurse. However, his left leg gave out at that same moment, and he managed to catch himself before he ended up completely on the floor. “You know what, on second thought…


	2. [AC5/AC7] A Dove’s Return

It was a quiet night at Bana’s Regional Airport, though given the current geo-political climate it wasn’t all that surprising. The ‘Lighthouse War’ had finished not even a month ago and the world was still adjusting and recovering from the significant damages that the war had left in its wake, most notably the complete elimination of global satellite communications.

To Chris Banford, it was actually a source of amusement if one saw it from his perspective. As an associate professor with the local university, he had to watch young adults who normally had the world’s information at their fingertips struggle to research and complete tasks without the ultra-high speed internet they had become so accustomed to using.

Not to say that he himself wasn’t struggling with the lack of international contact himself, though that was less ‘need to know what’s happening with such-and-such celebrity across in Emmeria’ and more ‘it’s been weeks since I last heard from my wife’.

“Dad… how much longer? You said she’d be here an hour ago.” A tired voice by his side drew Chris from his internal musings, and he looked down to his right where his eight year old daughter, Allison, sat with her head buried in a book.

Chris stole a glance at his watch and then at the arrival’s board where he saw the name of the flight they were waiting for, the bold ‘DELAYED’ marked beside it in red.

“Hopefully not too much longer, Allie.”

* * *

Another hour passed, and Allison had tucked herself underneath Chris’ right arm where she was quietly sleeping, her book sitting open across his lap. Chris himself wasn’t fairing much better, occasionally catching his head drooping before quickly waking himself up. He took another look at the arrival’s board, and a shot of adrenaline rushed through his body upon reading the green ‘ARRIVED’ that was printed next to the flight he’d been waiting so long for.

“Allie, wake up.” Chris was fighting to shake her awake like she would do with him many a Christmas or birthday morning, even though the urge to repay the favour was really strong. “Come on little one, it’s time.”

“She’s here?” Allie asked quietly, waking up as the realisation of what was about to happen sunk in.

“Yes, let’s go meet her.” Standing, Chris grabbed the bundle of flowers that was on the floor beside their chairs, firmly grasped Allison’s hand, and together with growing nerves the pair made their way through the terminal towards the gate.

It didn’t take long, but it felt like forever by the time the pair made it to the gate, where a small twin-engine regional passenger jet was unloading it’s passengers and their luggage. There were enough passengers to fill up probably half of the seats on board; one of the consequences of disrupted satellite navigation was that civilian transcontinental air travel was brought to a halt as there were no landmarks in the oceans to reliably navigate with. Over land, the risk wasn’t as high, but the public weren’t taking any chances as far as they were concerned.

Minutes passed as the passengers crossed the tarmac to the stairwell at the base of the gateway, the gate agents opening the internal doors as the first group of passengers reached the entrance. Already Chris was bouncing on his toes to try and catch sight of  _ her _ , the emotions from many years without actually seeing her face or hearing her voice finally starting to spill over.

“Blaze!” Her voice. It was just as warm and sweet as he remembered before they had to part ways all those years ago. He didn’t respond, his throat choked up with emotion as he barreled over to her and pulled Kei into a bear hug, lifting her off her feet and spinning with the residual momentum. In the background, the pair could hear faint applause from the crowd around them as they witnessed a touching reunion between man and wife.

“Mom?” The pair separated slightly as Allison approached with wide eyes and hesitation clear in her face.

“Oh, wow… Allie, you’ve grown so big…” Kei released her grip around Chris and knelt down to embrace her daughter in a hug that was many many years overdue.

“Did you save the world again?” Allison asked through her tears of joy, her voice muffled by Kei’s shoulder.

“Yes baby, I did. Come on, let’s get back home. I’m sure we have a lot to catch up on.”


End file.
